Influence of Information Literacy Skills on Postgraduate Students’ Use of Electronic Resources in Private University Libraries in South-West, Nigeria

Abstract

The introduction of new technologies has had a significant influence on teaching, learning and research activities in universities. This has offered university libraries opportunities to provide information resources in a variety of formats. This study investigated the influence of information literacy skills on postgraduate students’ use of electronic resources in private university libraries in Nigeria. The study adopted the survey research design. The study population comprised 2805 postgraduate students in five private universities offering postgraduate programmes in South-West, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used in the selection process. A purposive selection of four faculties from each of the five universities was carried out. Proportionate sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 550 postgraduate students as the respondents for the study. Findings revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between information literacy skills and use of electronic resources (r = 0.28, p < 0.05). The study concluded that the utilization of electronic resources promoted access to current information among postgraduate students in the selected private universities in South-West, Nigeria. The study recommended that the management of private university libraries should ensure a continuous provision of electronic resources with adequate information communication technology tools to facilitate their use.